My "Jack"... O-Lantern

This was the first time in years I had the patience to actually carve me a pumpkin. I love Tuesdays as I usually get to spend some time with my nieces, Quincy and Mia as Kimmie and Bryce have young women/men's. Tonight we each carved our own pumpkin. The kids kind of picked slightly complex patterns, but did a great job considering. Quincy carved Mumble from "Happy Feet", and Mia carved the "Boo" from Mario Brothers. Mine was pretty simple, it was Jack from "The Nightmare Before Christmas". We all had a great time, sore hands and all. I took mine out to my Grandma's for her to enjoy, since I'll be gone, so watch out for it.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!

My Travels

Any trip is off to a bad start when it's more than a task to get through airport security.  After taking my shoes off, one pant leg ended up being pulled up over my calf, and the crazy lady at security not only made sure I pulled it down, but she seemed overly concerned about it.  I never thought having a pant leg up posed as a security risk.  I'm sure I gave her a funny look, but I did what she asked with no comment.  Once walking through the metal detectors, she then made me put my arms up out to my side while she continued to THOROUGHLY pat me down.  Come on... was that really necessary?!  As I was being man handled, or woman handled, it occurred to me that perhaps she thought I was in a gang because of the pant leg thing.  Maybe she was looking for a hidden shiv, or a dime bag.  Who's to say?  

Luckily, things looked up as I was surprised my 4th official was waiting for me at the Spokane airport to take me to my motel.  I was happy to not have to take a cab.  My motel wasn't the greatest.  It was small, with super thin walls, but I was happy there were no cockroaches like Scuba Steve had warned me about when he stayed at that same hotel years back.  I ended up I falling asleep almost immediately.

So this morning I reffed Eastern Washington vs. Northern Colorado.  The game was pretty good, but really lopsided on fouls.  Funny how the foul committing team (EWU) never complained though.  I was 20 seconds away from a cardless game until a stupid Northern Colorado girl had to start lashing out at me.  They never learn.

Back to the airport.  This time I had over 2 hours to kill.  I love the Spokane airport though.  It's nice and clean, and they have good places to eat.  I ordered me some southwestern eggrolls from Chili's, and spent the rest of my time with my MBP.  The flight back was interesting as I ended up sitting next to a guy who knew the same people I knew in the soccer biz.  I usually keep to myself and do my own thing, but we had a really good conversation the entire flight, and I was able to be home by 9:00 p.m.  

Only one more game to go!  

Can't wait to be done!

P.O. (Peace Out)!

My 32 Tickets

Ok, ok... so yes, today was my Birthday.  First of all, it's the first Friday I've been home in a month.  I feel quite lucky, except it is short lived as I leave tomorrow for Eastern Washington.  Second, I wanna say thanks to Tony & Melissa, and of course the cute little nuggets for hacking in and posting on my blog.  That was quite the surprise!  I especially loved the "round off".

After reffing at Idaho State yesterday, I decided to do something fun for my Birthday, so I grabbed 32 lottery tickets on my way home.  I had planned to have the kids help me scratch them all off, and boy were they crazy over it.  Who knew this would be such a hit?!  We ended up winning $25, and I told the kids I'd use our winnings for a fun activity with them.  Any suggestions for 6 kids and $25???

Before all the scratching shenanigans, we all met up at Hamilton's for an amazing dinner, while Quincy watched the rest of the kids.  We were all quite nervous for her, but we weren't called once at dinner, and we saw no evidence of blood anywhere in the house.  Well done Quincy!!! Dinner itself was mmm... mmm... good.

Too bad it all has to come to an end and I have to ref 3 games in the next two days.  I ref two men's games tomorrow morning (a line and a center), catch a flight to Spokane tomorrow evening, and ref a Women's game Sunday morning.  After that, I only have one more assignment, which happens to be on Halloween.  No soup for ME.  :( 

The end is near!!!

Happy Birthday SLY!

Happy Birthday! We hope you have a great day!

Love, Tony, Melissa, Emily Ty, AJ, Kimball, & Porter too

My Eight Things

I got tagged again!!!  (Thanks Kamela)

8 Things

8 TV shows I love to watch:

1- Chuck

2- The Office

3- Cold Case

4- Chelsea Lately

5- Prison Break

6- CSI Miami

7- Heroes

8- The Amazing Race

8 Favorite Restaurants:

1- Kamin

2- Pho 97

3- Hamilton's

4- Juniper Takeout

5- Noodles & Co.

6- Cafe Sabor

7- California Pizza Kitchen

8- The Italian Place

8 Things that happened yesterday:

1- It was my early day at work (6:30 am)

2- Replaced the batteries in my mouse at work

3- Reffed at UVU vs. Howard

4- Got annoyed by my assistant referees (linesmen)

5- Visited my friends in Lehi

6- Drove a lot & listened to my ipod

7- Talked to Teresa on the phone

8- Watched CSI Miami & Chelsea Lately

8 Things I am looking forward to:

1- Finishing up the college season

2- The new indoor season (I'm playing on 3 teams)

3- The Holiday seasons (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas)

4- Another trip to Cali

5- Taking my nieces & nephews places over the winter (actually having a Saturday)

6- Being able to chill at home (again, actually having a Saturday)

7- Passing my certification test

8- My new baby nephew to be born (What will his name be???)

8 Things I love about fall:

1- Halloween & Grandma's chicken noodle soup (I'm devastated I'll be missing it this year)

2- The leaves (of course)

3- The surprisingly warm, sunny days

4- Football 

5- Pumpkin chocolate chip bread

6- The new glove selection at Smith's Marketplace

7- Pumpkin bagels at Einstein's

8- Halloween candy

8 Things on my wish list:

1- An ipod touch

2- To be back in my training/exercise routine

3- For Jaycson & Riley to win state cup

4- New running shoes

5- New soccer shoes

6- Dr. Katz: Therapy Sessions Box Set

7- A new Mustang

8- Happiness & peace

8 People I tag: (I don't think I know 8, so what's listed will have to do)

1- Melissa

2- Diane

3- Jeanette

4- Stephanie

5- Anyone who wants to play

My Exhaustion

What..... a weekend!  I had to ref two games at Western Wyoming in Rock Springs, WY.  It wasn't quite as bad as I thought it was going to be as far as the three hour drive each direction, and the actual level of play, except I got pretty sleepy on the drive to Rock Springs.  I centered the Women's game first, and was a linesman on the Men's game.  The Women's game was comparable to a High School JV game, and upon arriving, I noticed several piles of "pebbles" on the field.  Yes, there was deer poo.  My thoughts immediately went to how I was going to run, keep close to play, be able to see everything, and still be able to avoid these piles.  It wasn't far into the game that I realized it was impossible, and would have to just deal with it.  I also decided that two college games back to back were just too much mentally, because after the first game, you just want to be done.  I didn't really enjoy that.  So about 12 fouls were called, a PK for each team, and no cautions were given.  One good thing was I got to see one of my former players that played for Wyoming.  The problem with that, though, is she tried to give me a hug at half-time.  Sweet kid, but I had to whisper... "not now".  We did get to catch up a little after the game, though.  The men's game was at least intense and somewhat interesting.  Thank goodness we avoided OT, as I didn't think I could last much longer.  I was STARVING!  As my mind wandered during the game, I couldn't help but notice that Rock Springs also reminded me of "The Hills Have Eyes", and I decided there is no way I would ever live in any town that reminded me of that movie.  The drive back home was much better as I grabbed a bite to eat, got me a caffeinated drink this time, and plugged my ipod into my stereo.  I must say... audiobooks are also a major plus.

Unfortunately, I had to be up by 6:00 the next morning to be in Layton by 7:30 to ref 3 state cup boys games.  The first two games were no problem, as I ran a line for U14 & U12 boys.  The third game, I was the center for U15 boys.  That was a mess.  I have decided that boys at that age are just as emotional as girls, if not worse.  I even had to tell a kid to control his emotions after I cautioned him for dissent (he didn't think he was offside).  I ended up handing out 7 cautions total.  That might be an all time high for me for a youth game.  The last time I gave out anything close to that was 2 years ago at NAU vs. Sac. State.  I hung around to watch Riley's team thump on a crappy team 6-0, and headed back home.  That made for another 10+ hour day of soccer.  I didn't realize how much the last two days had taken its toll on me until I realized it was 8:24 and was having trouble keeping my eyes open.  Sure enough, I fell asleep by 8:30 watching TV, and didn't wake up until just before 9:30 the next morning.  That's a good 13 hours of sleep.  I was quite proud of that, and really, I only woke up because I had a personal training session at 10:00, so who knows how long I would have been out.  The next two weeks are going to be killer as it's the final weeks of college conference play.  I'll be reffing 6 college games in the next 12 days.  Wish me luck!  

My Overnighter

Boise State was a blast!!!  For the most part anyway.  My flight wasn't too early, my rental car was awesome, and my hotel room/suite was the best ever (Marriott Towne Suites).  The only battle I had, was the weather.  The first half, it rained, slowly turning into sleet by halftime, and BSU up 1-0.  After coming out of the locker room (men's bathroom) when halftime was over, it had all turned to snow and I was in for a long second half.  BSU got a quick goal, so the score was 2-0 over LA Tech.  The snow, however, never let up and the snowflakes were almost the same size in diameter as a baseball.  I have never seen snowflakes that big.  With the snow piling up under my feet (I brought my turfs instead of cleats), I had to be careful when I cut to change direction.  I had no traction at all, and not only did I feel like Fred Flintstone when I had to sprint, but I would get pelted either in the eyeball (it stung), or the ear with snow.  While waiting for subs to come on to the field, snow just piled on my head and nose, giving me the biggest brain freeze ever.  The game itself was pretty hilarious as none of the players could stay on their feet, and they looked like dogs on ice skates.  I was laughing.  The worst part of the game was the last 10 minutes when LA Tech miraculously scored 2 goals to tie it up.  I was not laughing anymore.  That meant overtime!  I was already freezing, I couldn't feel my fingers, and it was getting difficult to even blow my whistle.  Luckily, both coaches opted to forgo OT as they felt it was "unsafe" as the entire field was covered in snow, and lines were almost impossible to see.  Fine by me!  The game ended in a 2-2 tie, 16 total fouls called (dang), and no cards.  I headed back to the hotel for a 20 minute hot shower, ordered takeout from The Cheesecake Factory, and had a great night's sleep.  This NISOA season has been the most fun ever!  Next up... Western Wyoming.

BSU Field right after the game  

My 20 Hour Day

October is usually my busy traveling month for NISOA. My first trip this month was to St. Mary's College vs. San Jose State on Friday, 10/3. Aside from the fact that I had to leave just before 4:00 a.m. to catch my flight to Oakland, it was a great trip. I love seeing new schools. I was so proud that I didn't get lost at all (thanks to google maps), as it was a good hour (with traffic) from Oakland to Moraga. I had a nice, young crew to work with (no oldies... yay), but the game itself, was a little disappointing as it went 7 minutes into overtime before the first and only goal of the game was finally scored by SMC. No cards were issued, and only 11 total fouls were called. Woo-hoo. I made it back to the airport to catch my flight out with a good 2 hours to kill. I don't think I would have survived without my Mac. I think I fell asleep before the plane even lifted off, and before I knew it, I was back home by 12:30 a.m. It was definitely a super long day, but it went by fast, and I actually had a lot of fun. Next up... Boise State!

My Days In Sunny L.A.

It's always great to get away for a few days. I got to bring Easton back home after a week long visit to Utah while Teresa and Mitch were in Mexico. Here are some of the events of my trip.

• PHO 97 - We met Ami and Brandon for pho right after arriving. It always hits the spot. Poor Easton was having a rough time though, no doubt due to lack of sleep (we left at 6:00 am and he did NOT sleep on the plane). The poor kid just laid on the floor, spoon in hand, whimpering "help... help... help...". Cutest and saddest thing ever.
• MIA'S MISHAP - While at Fallon's soccer game, I get a horrible phone call from Kimmie. It turns out Mia, a.k.a. "Supergirl", was riding her bike and had taken on a SUV. The kid has some serious superpowers as she came out with only a few scrapes and a bump on her head. The bike and SUV fared worse than she did. All I can say is... "WOW"!
• THE USUAL - We have our usual "hot spots" we hit every visit that I look forward to. Pho 97 of course, Robeks for a smoothie (it's pretty much a Jamba Juice), In and Out, The Coffee Bean for a vanilla ice blended (so delicious), Indian takeout, and of course a Target run. It's nice to have a routine. Unfortunately we didn't have time to hit the Apple store, IKEA for meatballs, or play Sunday pickup soccer. :(
• THE MALL MASSAGE - Teresa had talked me into getting a mall massage with her. Fifteen whole minutes for $20. Well... it was more of a chinese torture session than a massage. At one point I almost cried "mercy". At times she would actually punch my body... is this really a practiced technique? I ended up being more sore coming out than I was going in, not to mention I couldn't move my jaw for a good half hour afterwards because my face was being pressed so hard into the evil contraption. I can honestly say 7 year-old Mia is far better, and she only costs a dollar. Never again!
• SKEWERS - Teresa always makes something memorable each time I visit. This time it was her lemongrass beef skewers. I have to say, it was the best ever! Unfortunately, she didn't make enough and left us all wanting more.
• AIRPORT ADVENTURE - I got to spend a good 4 hours at the Burbank airport. Due to the heat and wind, and the short runway, we were too heavy to take off. After 2 excruciating hours of sitting on the runway, they decided to head back to the gate as it would be 2-3 more hours before the wind died down. In order to be cleared for takeoff, they needed to de-plane 11 more people in addition to the 4 at the beginning, and the handful of passengers that had (now missed) connecting flights in SLC. At this point I opted out. There was no way I was going to last much longer, and hey... I get another day in Cali along with a $400 flight voucher. WIN-WIN for ME!
• EXTRA DAY - On my extra day, Teresa and I got to hit a couple more great stores after taking Fallon to school. Sam's Club and Office Depot! I am now the proud new owner of a label maker, and I can't wait to use it! :)

Pho 97

"Mmm... noodle soup!"

Stay tuned for my next adventure!!!